Yamamoto Tsunetomo Quotes

Not everything is for sale; not everything is about money.

We think we own things, but the reality is, our things own us.

The more men value money the less they value virtue.

Seven social sins: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice.

Greed is good. Sex is easy. Youth is forever.

But then, how could you have any self-respect knowing that you didn't believe in anything exactly? How did you embrace what was yours if you didn't leave something for it? How did you create a life of meaning and pride?

Scheme not to make what's Another's your own; Be not a Dog for the sake of a Bone.

The howl of self-interest is loud ... but the heart is black which throbs solely to its note.

When done with heart, commitment, and integrity, every job is equally important.

We tend to always want to obtain something new and something more, and we never really enjoy what we have.

One day I said to my dad, 'Are you disappointed that I'm working a minimum-wage job and I didn't go to college?' I'll never forget his response. He said, 'It's not about how much money you make or what your job is, but it's more about your character. For that, I'm proud of you.'

People who are in jobs are striving to gain the most they can before they die through financial means, through their flesh, the lust of their flesh and man's drive for power. But as believers we are to be the opposite. We are to be humble, not prideful. We are to think of things that are true, whatever is noble, and whatever is worthy.

A courageous man prefers death to the surrender of self-respect.

The early symptoms of the disease [California Curse], which break out almost on arrival in Hollywood, are a sense of exaggerated self-importance and self-centeredness which naturally alienates all old friends. Next comes a great desire for and belief in the importance of money above all else, a loss of the normal sense of humor and proportion and finally, in extreme cases, the abandonment of all previous standards of moral value.

I smil'd to my self at the sight of this money, O drug! said I aloud, what art thou good for? Thou art not worth to me, no not the taking off of the ground, one of those knives is worth all this heap, I have no manner of use for thee, e'en remain where thou art, and go to the bottom as a creature whose life is not worth saving. However, upon second thoughts, I took it away.

Man does not live by bread alone. Many prefer self-respect to food.

Callous greed grows pious very fast.

Obviously, I believe that to pursue the American Dream is not only futile but self-destructive because ultimately it destroys everything and everyone involved with it. By definition it must, because it nurtures everything except those things that are important: integrity, ethics, truth, our very heart and soul. Why? The reason is simple: because Life/life is giving, not getting.

The more objects you set your heart upon, the more thorns there are to tear your peace of mind to shreds.

We've got to start also holding people accountable, and we've got to reward people who succeed. But somehow in Washington today - and I'm afraid on Wall Street - greed is rewarded, excess is rewarded, and corruption - or certainly failure to carry out our responsibility is rewarded.

A person who has been seduced by the consumer value system, whose identity is dissolved in an amalgam of the accouterments trappings of mass civilization, and who has no roots in the order of being, no sense of responsibility for anything higher than his own personal survival, is a demoralized person. The system depends on this demoralization, deepens it, is in fact a projection of it into society.

One of the things capitalism does is, it does enhance and exacerbate the sin of pride, making yourself, the material world the center of your universe, instead of God's will.

How can a world be good in which Money is the moving power, and Self-interest the guiding star?

The passion of acquiring riches in order to support a vain expense corrupts the purest souls.

To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.